


Cuddling Can Be Platonic

by RowanAlong



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Crona's Pronouns are They/Them, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Crona (Soul Eater), Other, either way Crona's head over heels for Maka, if you're nonbinary is everything gay or is nothing gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 15:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowanAlong/pseuds/RowanAlong
Summary: Cuddling could be platonic, but one doesn’t think about kissing their friend as often as Crona does.





	Cuddling Can Be Platonic

Their combined heat under the covers crept up Crona’s back and into their cheeks, dusting them with an unflattering gray. They noticed through half-lidded, bleary eyes that they now matched Maka’s own blush. Whether Maka was warm in the face from the intimacy or the heat, they couldn’t say. 

[ _“D’you wanna play cards?”_

_“Uhm, sure, but I don’t really know how to play…”_

_“I’ll show you!”_ ]

They sighed into the embrace and squeezed tighter. They felt her reciprocate, and their heart leapt into their throat. They relaxed their hold and leaned into her body. She did the same.

[ _Maka plopped her phone down on the carpet and began to sing along to the song blasting from the iPhone’s tinny speakers, adding harmonies where there were none. They stuck to the melody, nowhere near as musically adventurous as she was. Their voices didn’t complement each other’s perfectly, they didn’t blend together in a seamless wall of sound, but her voice made their chest swell with tenderness, and they had the overwhelming desire to put their cards down, wrap their arms around her waist, and hold her close. They played their next card._ ]

“You’re great,” they whispered.

“ _You’re_ great,” she whispered back.

[ _Two games later, she was making hand motions as she sung, miming every noun in the lyrics that she could think of an action for, and all they did was stare and smile, stare and smile and stare. They blinked and focused dazedly on the shapes her mouth made as they moved around each word._

_Maka noticed their silence, paused, and shrunk back self-consciously. “You aren’t judging me, are you?” Their eyes widened, and the stupid grin quickly melted from their face._

_“Nonononono, I just, like your singing voice. It’s… lovely. I really like it.”_

_“Oh,” she smiled. “Thank you.”_ ]

They wondered if they should kiss her. They wondered if they were reading too much into this, if this wasn’t romantic at all, and this is just what friends do. They wondered if she was attracted to them, even a little bit. They doubted it, but the closeness, the shared silence… they dared to hope. They rubbed a little circle on her back, where their hand rested. They felt her shiver and suppress a laugh.

“Oh, did that tickle?”

“A little.”

“I’m sorry.”

[ _“If you don’t stop biting your nails, Crona, I’m gonna tickle you. I have the power.” She shifted closer to them, wiggling her fingers to punctuate the threat._

_“You, you wouldn’t,” they said, shifting backwards a little, bringing a finger to their mouth and biting unthinkingly._

_She pounced, and they let out a strangled yelp. They froze as they registered her hands resting on their stomach._

_Maka grinned evilly. “What was that, again?”_ ]

Maka shifted her head a little closer to their face, and their pulse quickened. The warmth, the intimacy, did she feel the same? Crona wondered if she would kiss them, it’d be their first kiss, they would be honored if she was their first kiss, they should lean in and help so she could kiss them, just lean in, just lean in, just lean in…

Crona stiffened, not daring to move a muscle closer or farther from her. They focused on their hands, and how she felt under them.

[ _“You’re very nice to hug, you know,” they had muttered, having collapsed into her arms after a thorough tickling. Crona idly noted that she smelled incredibly nice, she smelled like warmth and sweet and Maka, and they felt dizzy with the scent._

_“You give great hugs too,” she had responded, sighing against their neck. She hummed. “Do you want to move, uh, to the bed? Cuddle?”_ ]

They breathed together for what felt like forever and at the same time, no time at all, neither one moving closer or farther away. They stared at her face, her lips, her eyes, her nose, then her lips again, and watched her think, watched her breathe.

[ _They had climbed onto the bed first, settling on the side closest to the wall. Maka climbed on after and reached for the comforter._

_“Could we cuddle under the covers?”_

_They held back a choked noise. Wasn’t that really… intimate? But they hadn’t had a problem with cuddling on the bed, so how different was being under the covers? “Oh, uhm, sure,” they said, trying to keep their voice from wavering._

_“Cool,” she said, and pulled the comforter over herself and Crona, pulling them into a close embrace. They blushed to the tips of their ears.]_

And suddenly she was moving. Crona let out a little whine of protest but let go enough for her to shift as she pleased. Blearily, she checked her watch, reading over the numbers and frowning. “It’s midnight.”

They drew in a breath, held it, and then sighed.

“I suppose I should get going then,” they hummed.

“I don’t want you to, but, yeah. Probably.”

They both lingered for a moment or two longer than they should have and squeezed each other tight before letting go. Crona rolled off the bed, out from under the warm, warm covers, and into chilly, chilly air of the room.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” they said. Like a puppy.

“Definitely,” she said. Like a friend.

Crona left, calling “Goodbye!” as they closed the door to her room behind them.

“Sleep well! Love you!” They held their breath, before breathing out and reprimanding themself. She didn’t mean it like that, most certainly not.

“…Love you too.”

They slunk through the apartment to the front door, closed it behind them, and stopped. They stood there, just thinking on how good Maka felt in their arms, thinking on how lovely her warmth was, thinking on her smile, thinking on her laugh, thinking on her lovely hair and her cute nose and her bright eyes, and especially, thinking on how they were her best friend in the whole wide world.

[ _Their breathing slowed as they grew more comfortable with Maka in their arms, and not for the first time, Crona wondered if they should tell her how they felt. Crona caught Maka’s eyes, and she smiled._

_…What if Maka didn’t feel the same? What if she hated them for daring to want something other than a friendship? What if she was disgusted with them? And if she didn’t sneer at them from the outset, what if she felt awkward about it? What if she distanced herself from them? What if that ruined their friendship? What if-_

_Crona gave a little smile back.]_

It was selfish of them to want more. Crona thought through the events of the night once more, and touched their cheeks, still warm. They ran their fingers across their lips and sighed before turning around to go home, just as the door behind them swung open.

“Maka?”

“Crona!” She had shoes on, Crona noticed.

“Uhm, were you going outside, Maka?”

Her face began to color. “I wasn’t-! I was going to, I mean, yes, but I was… well. Never mind. It doesn’t matter, you’re here.”

“I’m here.” Their right hand found their left arm and gripped tight. “Did you need me for something?”

Maka jumped. “Um, yes, actually!” She wrung her hands. “You forgot something.”

“I forgot something?” Crona echoed. They furrowed their brow. The only thing that they had brought over with them was their keys, and they had them, they were sure of it. “I don’t think I’m missing anything, Maka. What did I-”

Maka reached her hand up and gently touched their cheek, freezing them completely.

“Maka?”

She looped her free arm around Crona’s waist and pulled them flush against her. She looked up at Crona, sucked in a deep breath, and said, “You forgot this.”

She leaned up quickly and pressed her mouth to Crona’s.

[ _“You mean the world to me,” she whispered, playing with one of their loose strands of hair._

_“You mean the world to me too,” they promised, suppressing a shiver._ ]

Their initial pure elation turned into something calmer, softer, warmer, and slowly, Crona melted into her kiss. They brought their hands to her arms and let their eyes slide shut. Being so close to her, holding her, _kissing_ her… Crona hummed into the kiss, a deeply pleased sound. Maka smiled, held them tighter, kissed harder, and Crona squeaked. Maka giggled as she leaned back and pulled away, the kind of giggle that was just so _Maka_ and reminded Crona of bubbles and sunshine and kittens and everything else that made their insides melt.

“Wow,” Crona said breathily. Maka full belly laughed, and Crona couldn’t help but laugh along with her. It’s all there was to say, really.

Their laughter died down eventually. There was only quiet now, a tender silence that held so many things that needed to be said, but that no one wanted to break.

Eventually, Crona muttered, “It’s past midnight. You should go to sleep.”

“I don’t think I can sleep,” Maka murmured. “I’ll just stay up thinking of you.”

“Maka,” Crona breathed.

“Would you stay with me?”

“…Of course. Anything for you.”

Maka took their hand gently. Even though they had done this many times before, this time there was a new energy to it, a promise of something different and maybe a little scary but something _good_.

They let themselves be guided back into the apartment, back to Maka’s room. Neither of them bothered flicking the lights back on as they made their way to her bed. Crona climbed into the bed first, and Maka pulled the comforter over the two of them, before settling back into her Crona’s arms.

[ _“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she sighed._

_“…Me too, Maka.”_ ]

Crona closed their eyes and breathed and tried to find sleep, but then they felt Maka shift. They opened their eyes just in time to catch Maka’s face surprisingly close to their own. She kissed their cheek softly.

 “Ah, Maka-” they started. She pulled away and hugged Crona firmly.

“Goodnight, Crona. Sweet dreams.” She relaxed and closed her eyes.

Crona gingerly touched their cheek and paused for a long moment before bringing their hand over to their lips as well.

“Goodnight, Maka,” Crona muttered.

She was already asleep.

“…Love you.”

They closed their eyes and tried to fall asleep as fast as possible, in hopes that their path might cross Maka’s in the land of dreams too.  

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo this is the first fic I'm posting on AO3 ever woooooo  
> I already posted this on Tumblr but I'm just putting it here too because AO3 is probably better for consolidating fanfiction anyway (and I flat out refuse to use ff.net anymore)  
> Also this fandom's kinda dead but all that means is that I can pump out as much content as I damn well please and no one can stop me nyehehe  
> (hey thanks for reading my thing!)


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